Smith Girls from West Auckland

[Beg Clonrode...]

Mary is believed to have lived in Christchurch for sometime before returning to Auckland in the late 1920s.

Hi again...

Still no joy but in the interests of building a bigger haystack here's another list. I'm a great believer in lists :-)

This list consists of Marys who were mentioned in both the 1919 Canterbury electoral rolls and the 1928 Auckland electoral rolls. It presupposes that a) Mary is on both rolls and that b) she used the same name both times.

Mary - 1919 Canterbury - 1928 Auckland.txt
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0x8r/

It's one file but in two parts, namely "Names common to the 1919 Canterbury electoral rolls and the 1928 Auckland Suburbs electoral roll" followed by the much larger "Names common to the 1919 Canterbury electoral rolls and the 1928 Auckland electoral rolls".

In combination with the BDM NZ Marriages website plus the "1926-1935 list of deaths" I posted earlier something might pop up. Or not. I had a quick and unsuccessful look but something might catch your eye. There's lots of Mary Ann SMITHs.

A quick and unsuccessful look
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0x8s/

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Two more lists to make at some point in the future....one is the Marys on the 1928 Auckland electoral rolls who don't appear on the 1935 Auckland electoral rolls. Possibly an indication of a death between 1928 and 1935.

And the ultimate list is one containing *all* females who died in Auckland in 1930 (+/-5 years) who were born in 1873 (+/-5 years). I had a quick look and that's really only about 300 deaths per year. PapersPast, the electoral rolls and the BDM NZ Marriages website would soon sort out the non-starters.

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I told her there were no Mary Smiths marrying a Smiths

Have you looked for a SMITH to SMITH marriage in Australia. Maybe ask on the Aussie board.

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She thought she lived in Nikau Street

How accurate is your cousin's memory :-) It's just you said she is in her mid-90's (so born 1918/19) and you also said your cousin was about fifteen when Mary died (so Mary would have died 1933/34). If your cousin had left Auckland by 1935 that narrows down Mary's year of death to 1933, 1934 or 1935. It's pretty easy to follow the comings and goings on Nikau Street for that period if you cross-reference **Stones Directory and the electoral rolls. I'm making half-hearted attempts to do that but I only have access to the ancestry website when I visit my library.

**When I say Stone's Directory I actually mean Wise's Directory. Sorry about the confusion :-)

Regards
Beg

[DeniseBS]

Hi Beg

Thanks for your latest input. You ask how reliable my cousin's memory is, well.... My cousin was born in 1915 and was married in the Waikato in Dec 1934. I have two pieces of paper that she wrote notes on for me. One, that is not dated, came with a Xmas card a few years ago (I only met her when she was already in her 90s) says "I was about 9 or 10 yrs old when I met her and was 15 yrs when I went to their auction."  referring to her father's sister Mary. This is what I have been doing all my research off. So that is why I have been looking around 1929 and five years either side for her death

However I have just looked back at the notes I took the first time I met her and what she told me then was quite different.

1) Mary and her husband came up to New Lynn, Auckland for a holiday (when she & her husband were living there)

2) They moved to New Lynn after she and her husband had left Auckland.

I have assumed that the information she sent me later was correct as she had time to think about things rather than being rushed the afternoon she met this distant cousin who was asking her so many questions. But as I have now all but eliminated the additional Marys as per your list who weren't necessarily the correct age, it may be time to turn back to what she orginally told me. This would make the death of Mary much later, but how my cousin managed to go to the auction of Mary's house in Auckland when she was living in Ngaruawahia with a young family is beyond me. Perhaps the truth is she and her husband were still in Auckland when Mary died.

Using Electoral Rolls rather than my cousin's memory she and her husband moved to Auckland between 1941 and 1943. Then they moved back to Ngaruawahia between 1946 and 1949/51.

This also starts to become a problem as the Aunt that she said she went to th auction with moved to Raglan in the early 1950s and disappeared (not genealogically speaking, but literally) in 1954.

Re the possibility of a marriage in Australia. That has crossed my mind too and I have eliminated NSW and Queensland, or at least I have lists of marriages for the three smith girls I am looking for but didn't find a match. As Victoria charges for index views I haven't done that one as yet. I didn't go any farther afield than the East Coast States.

Denise

[Beg Clonrode...]

Hi again...

That's interesting :-)

Using Electoral Rolls rather than my cousin's memory she and her husband moved to Auckland between 1941 and 1943. Then they moved back to Ngaruawahia between 1946 and 1949/51.

So to clarify, the above means your cousin is on the 1943 and 1946 Auckland electoral rolls which means they were in Auckland any time between 1941 and 1949.

...she was living in Ngaruawahia with a young family

Are you able to localise your cousin's whereabouts by using the BDM NZ Births microfiche. In other words, were some of the children born in Auckland.

Or can you find your cousin in Auckland using Wise's Directory.

Obviously if you can find when she was living in Auckland it might give us a better time-frame for the house auction.

But as long as "Nikau Street" is still valid I think it's just a case of keep calm and carry on, except change "1925-35" to "1941-49".

EDIT:

I don't suppose your cousin actually attended Mary's funeral. Just wondering what proof you have that Mary died in Auckland.

And I just noticed the 1948 death for a Mary SMITH cka ALDRIDGE, born 1874-ish. Buried at Waikumete but in the RC section. Maybe check the electoral rolls to see if she lived near Nikau Street.

1948/32010 - SMITH CKA ALDRIDGE, Mary, 74Y

CKA = commonly known as

Regards
Beg

[DeniseBS]

Hi Beg

She was in Glen Massey (Raglan ER) in 1941 and by 1943 was living in Portage Road, New Lynn (this was the house she spent the later part of her childhood in, the family home). They are still in Portage Road in 1946, but in Taupiri (Raglan ER) on the 1949/51 electorall rolls.

Her parents had moved to Glen Massey from Portage Road, New Lynn between 1931 and 1935. She didn't go with them, but joined them a year or so later, so as she was only sixteen in 1931 they must have gone closer to 1933 or beginning of 1934.

My cousin and her husband had three children, all born between 1935 and 1939, and born in the Ngaruawahia area.

So between 1934 and 1941 (at least) they were not in Auckland, they were in Auckland by 1943 (or perhaps earlier in the later part of 1941 or 1942)  and they left Auckland after the 1949/51 electoral roll data was collected.

She was quite adamant about Nikau Street, but who knows perhaps she is confusing another family member who lived there, although I am not aware of anyone.

You can understand why I did my first post, hoping someone had one of these girls in their family, as I really don't have alot of concrete evidence to go on.

You may be wondering why I am not asking my cousin more questions. I don't believe it will illicit any new information and I am told she is getting quite confused these days. She has moved into a home this year, which she definitely didn't want to do.

[Beg Clonrode...]

Hi Denise...

Absolutely no need to hassle your cousin. We all know memory fades. Thankfully there are electoral rolls and similar from which we can work.

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Do you read the following as if Mary is living with Evelyn and Ted at Portage Road or that Ted, who lives at Portage Road, has two sisters, Mary and Evelyn....

PapersPast
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0x99/

Either way, do you read it as if Mary is still alive in 1929.

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There's currently another thread on the NZ board which mentions the Mental Health registers at Auckland Archives. Specifically the Patient Discharge and Death registers, Patient Case file registers and Visitors registers.

Any thoughts on checking the Index to the Registers for a Mary SMITH. If you can't get to Auckland you could start a new thread asking for a look-up. Some kind Rootschatter may be visiting and do a look-up for you.

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Don't stress that this thread has basically become me asking you questions. I'm simply running point. Rest assured that cleverer minds than mine are keeping an eye on the thread and will chip in as and when :-)

Regards
Beg

[DeniseBS]

Hi Beg

Ted is my cousin's father, Evelyn is a half sister and so is that Mary. Believe it or not my gt gt grandfather named two of his daughters Mary even though the first one hadn't died. Mary is a full sister born 1873, and the one I am looking for, while Mary Catherine, born in 1892 by my gt gt grandfather's second wife, is the one mentioned in the death notice for George.

Evelyn and Mary lived in one house in Portage Road while Ted and his family lived in another further down.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more complicated.

Cheers

Denise

[OAKLEIGH]

Hello Denise

Alice was born on 1st November 1866, and Agnes on 4th August, 1868.  Both were baptised at St Peter's Onehunga on 11th April 1869 by the Rev A G Purchase. Father William John, Little Muddy Creek, a Gardener, and mother Bridget Josephine nee Butler.

Mary was baptised at St Peter's Onehunga on 20 August 1875. Daughter of William John and Rachael. No birth date on the entry.

Hope this helps.

[Beg Clonrode...]

Mary was baptised at St Peter's Onehunga on 20 August 1875. Daughter of William John and Rachael. No birth date on the entry.

Hope this helps.

Hello Denise and Oakleigh...

Do you know the surname of this Rachael.

Regards
Beg

[OAKLEIGH]

No.  She only shows up that one time.  Perhaps I got it wrong.  Daughter of William & Rachel, Muddy Creek, Bushman.  Could there have been 2 Williams at Muddy Creek at that time?

Anyway. Here is another one. Baptised at Helensville Parish 3 June 1883, born 20 October 1882, Minnie d/o William John of Titirangi, Settler and Bridget.

I haven't looked further than that.

OAKLEIGH